[Pyrho]

Following the style of cuebidding where you show 1st or 2nd round control in an unbid suit, do you cuebid Kx when the lead is coming through you?

Ex:

1♠ - 2♥
2♠ - 3♠
3NT (serious) - ??

and you hold
Kxx in clubs. Partner may bid a small slam, and we could go off 2 when a club is led and the A and Q are offside. If we don't cuebid clubs, partner may stop in game when he has the Q of clubs and small slam makes easily.

When cuebidding, should you just ignore this one case, as it is very likely the cuebidder or his/her partner has the Q and/or A? and do we just ignore this case since at worst the slam will be 50/50, depending on the location of the A of clubs?

Thanks.

[inquiry]

Yes I cue-bid 4♣.

[luis]

This auction is an exact copy of a famous hand I played, they did cuebid a Kx(x) here (4♣) and with AQ of clubs my pd passed and they reached slam.
The logical lead was the other minor but dummy was so nervous that I decided 4♣ could have been a fake cuebid and lead clubs anyway.
One down.
When asked why he didn't double 4♣ my pd said one of his now famous phrases "If I double 4♣ they don't play slam, then why dbl if they can't make it?"

:-)

[Fluffy]

cuebiding with an unsuported king is ok, the problem is cuebiding with any king (even with QJ as well) in partner´s singleton, and on the given auction is an option, first show a first round control, but don´t let partner stay because of lack of ♣ control, bid it later.

[pclayton]

4♣ is kind of 'foisted' on you. Sure, the lead may come through, but many good things can happen:

1. Pard may have the Queen and itching to hear the cue
2. Pard may have xx and the A♣ may be on side.
3. Pard may hold the Jack and the suit is frozen.
4. Pard may hold the Ace and the King fills up the suit

Please God rescue me from the day one of my opponents finds an underlead from the Ace after I cue a King.

[luke warm]

4c here, i think i owe it to partner who's serious about slam... hate to hide that card from him

[Cascade]

Just cue-bid your king. Partner knows that this is a possibility and will take this into account on marginal hands.

On the balance of probabilities Kx will be vulnerable less often than not.

[the hog]

4C.
If AQ is offside I'm down. So what? I could be hit by a tram as well.

[Cascade]

It is a little worse than that Ron.

There could be a natural lead of QJ10x etc through your Kx(x).

But "so what" is the best response.

In the bidding Kx is worth around 3/4 of a trick assuming your side does not have the Queen and even better when he does have the Queen.

In the bidding it will be a control for slam when:

Partner has the Ace 1/3
Partner has the Queen 1/3
Partner has the Jack and your RHO has the Queen
RHO has the Ace

I reckon this is about 80%

[Free]

Going into the stream, I DON'T cuebid this ♣.

I have a simple rule: do I or don't I have a 1st or 2nd round control in 'any' case? Here I don't have it! What happens if someone underleads his ♣A and p has only the J? You'll play small and also lose 2 ♣-tricks while you could've made it. I don't like it.
However, I think we can go on for another round of control bidding, so then I'll bid it. P with Qx will know I have Kx or so, and can still continue to slam.

I rather be in a game +2, than in a slam on finesse, unless I'm in a tourney where I know lots of slams make on finesses

[helene_t]

How sure can I be that pd doesn't have a stiff club in this auction? I think pretty sure. Which is the main criterion for cueing a king.

[gabika73]

This is partnership agreement. If we agreed to show 1st and 2nd round controls (Aces, Kings, voids, singletons) after serious, which we did, I am obliged to bid 4♣. After all, one of the main goals of playing serious is to determine whether opps can cash AK of a side suit.

If I do not bid a club control, partner will sign off with Qx(x) in clubs immediately, and might not play with me again... at least, not when serious (some people would write: no pun intended.... I won't..).

[mishovnbg]

4♣
Misho

[joker_gib]

Cascade, on Jul 17 2004, 07:08 PM, said:

I reckon this is about 80%

That says everything !

Of course I cue bid